Thursday, September 15, 2005

Linda Linda Linda is set in a high school in Japan and follows a group of girls who have formed a group to sing one of their own songs for a school festival. The guitarist injures her hand in gym class shortly before the festival, but rather than give up, three of the girls, keyboardist Kei (Yu Kashii), drummer Kyoko (Aki Maeda) and bassist Nozomi (Shiori Sekine) decide to reform and cover songs by Japanese 80's punk group The Blue Hearts. Kei takes over guitar, but short of a vocalist, they take the first girl that walks by, who turns out to be Korean exchange student Son (Bae Doona). Son can barely speak Japanese, but nevertheless, the four girls press on and practice long into the night for three days straight to get ready for the festival.

Linda Linda Linda is a funny and entertaining film, and captures the atmosphere of high school days. The girls forge new friendships and explore first love with boys while still madly practicing for the big day. Bae Doona has some really hilarious moments as Son, but all the girls are fun to watch from the time they start as a musical mish-mash to the finale when they step up on stage. And you won't be able to get the refrain of "Linda Linda, Linda Linda Linda" out of your head for days.

Linda Linda Linda was directed and co-written by Nobuhiro Yamashita, and James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins fame provided the score for the movie.